Writing instruments have been known in the art for a long time, in various styles and configurations, including pencils and pens for use by an individual on a surface such as paper. As writing instruments have developed, they have taken on a variety of different designs, profiles and shapes to accommodate different writing styles, and some designs allow a writing instrument to be collapsed or stored in at least one position so that the writing instrument is protected from damage when it is not in use. Along these lines, several prior art writing instruments are known which allow a writing utensil to be rotatably or pivotably attached to a casing or handle, which then allow the writing utensil to be positioned either away from the handle in a position of use, or enclosed within a handle in a position of storage.
However, prior art writing instruments of this type provide a writing utensil fixed to a single handle, and do not allow the writing utensil to be used in multiple positions respective to the handle. Furthermore, the casing or handle of these prior art devices are typically obtrusive to a user when attempting to use the writing instrument for writing. Therefore, according to the present invention, a device which comprises a writing utensil rotatably attached to a pair of handles which allow the writing utensil to be selectively positioned either away from the handles in a position of use, or enclosed by the handles in a position of storage, wherein both positions allow the writing instrument to be easily grasped by a user is disclosed. Furthermore, it is also desirable to allow the writing utensil to be used when the writing utensil is positioned in either a position of storage or use relative to the handles. Further, it is also desirable to provide a writing instrument that has a secondary purpose of providing entertainment to the user, and wherein a variety of tricks and movements can be performed by rotating a plurality of handles in a variety of different positions similar to a “butterfly” knife as shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,195,898, which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
These and other problems are solved by the present invention, which comprises a writing instrument including a writing component rotatably connected to two handles at a common point of rotation as described in greater detail herein.